I don't think assault is too strong a word when what we are witnessing now is the attempt to expunge any notion of a spiritual component to the human being at all, one which will lead, if followed through to its natural conclusion, to the complete separation of earthly man and the spiritual realm to disastrous effect. There may still remain something called religion or spirituality but it won't be that at all.
It is now evident that the only way to preserve a real spiritual integrity in the world today is to reject modern ideology in toto. If you allow its tenets to enter your mind in any form they will act like a cancer and spread throughout your whole system. Any concession will eventually bring about submission to the idea that humanism (see previous post) overrides the reality of God. This is why such things as feminism, anti-racism and all the other -isms are pushed so relentlessly nowadays with the pushing becoming harder and harder and resistance increasingly depicted as sinful. The whole of modern thought is fundamentally an attack on God and if this wasn't always apparent, it surely must be now.
Just as people are currently being pressed into faceless, dehumanising, anonymity-creating, bureaucracy-conforming wearing of masks in an increasing number of situations under the guise of protecting yourself and (even more insidiously manipulative) protecting others, so many modern attitudes are presented as advances in terms of fairness, tolerance and compassion. Who would want to hold out against such things? But in the same way that mask wearing creates a culture of suspicion, distrust and fear and subtly modifies human behaviour and psychology in all sorts of adverse ways so these modern attitudes corrupt our minds on a spiritual level. By focusing on the purely human, using that word to refer solely to human beings materialistically considered, they cut us off from deeper spiritual truths. Which is, of course, the real intention.
We can tell this by the fact that the process never stops. What seemed innocent enough at first, just the righting of a few historic wrongs, has gathered pace inexorably with more and more truths rooted in the reality of God and Christ either rejected completely or else reformatted to be something quite different. The demands constantly increase and become more extreme. At the same time, what is normal and natural is reinterpreted and shifted to the left, using that word to mean anti-spiritual which is fundamentally what it does mean and has done since at least the French Revolution, on a near weekly basis though there are periods of lull and consolidation and others of strong forward activity. The method employed is constant attack. This is not how truth proceeds. Truth does not attack. It simply presents itself. Evil attacks but good just is itself. This is how we can know, even if it wasn't already quite clear, that the motivation behind the contemporary assault on the mind is evil.
Leftism is driven by hate. Ultimately it is hatred of God but there are many other lesser objects of its hatred which are usually figures it wants to drag down because of envy and resentment. Eventually when it runs out of things to tear down it starts to hate itself which is why we say that the revolution ends up eating itself*. Hatred needs something to feed on and when it has consumed its enemies it cannot simply stop and rest. It must continue with new enemies.
As the left becomes more extreme a number of well-meaning people on the right mount rearguard actions. But unless they speak from a real religious point of view they will fail just as they have over the last few decades. The unholy passion of their opponents is too intense. When all is said and done, the choice is God with all that implies or not God. If you have not chosen God you will fall to the zealots and absorb some of their attitude. The division between those faithful to spiritual truth and the rest will only widen in the coming years. Make sure you are not pulled away from truth by the need to fit in or desire to seem reasonable. Sometimes if the devil doesn't get souls through hatred he can get them through moral ambivalence or vacillation or even, as the saying has it, good intentions. He offers poisoned sweets in the form of seemingly fair or, on the surface, reasonable opinions and attitudes that, if consumed, will end up separating an individual from the truth of Christ. The time is coming when anything that is not actively for Christ will be against him.
* As a matter of interest, this observation goes back to the journalist and pamphleteer Jacques Mallet du Pan who wrote in 1793 that "like Saturn, the revolution devours its own children."
33 comments:
Incisive post, William. It appears we are on a similar wavelength today. I just finished a post inspired by commenter Epimetheus. The essence of that post is that modern leftism trains people to become defenseless against evil, a point you have elaborated upon very insightfully here. I am going to share this on my blog.
Thanks Frank. Must be something in the air!
"As the left becomes more extreme a number of well-meaning people on the right mount rearguard actions. But unless they speak from a real religious point of view they will fail just as they have over the last few decades."
It's becoming clearer by the day. Speaking of left and right, we can assume these are ultimately metaphysically grounded. At the spiritual plane, they are complementary, but at the earthly plane they become opposites. Therefore the lower must be seen in context of the higher. The rule seems to be that any opposition that reacts against the left becomes part of it. We can see the secular right failing everywhere, as spirit seeks to free itself from both sides. Taking left wing ideology and replacing it with right wing values is a recipe for war, not renewal. It is the invisible body of Christ versus the visible body politic (controlled by the unseen Leftist hydra).
I agree with your point there, Eric. I have long thought that the left is basically matter trying to usurp the role of spirit. Which is why it is so powerful in an age in which spirit is denied and the transcendent ignored.
Yes, essentially we must look for pathways to free up spirit, and expose the naked emperor (who will always find new places to hide and camouflage in!).
"Make sure you are not pulled away from truth by the need to fit in or desire to seem reasonable. Sometimes if the devil doesn't get souls through hatred he can get them through moral ambivalence or vacillation"
Agreed, but is that realistic if ones livelihood and ability to support a family financially depends on having to constantly accept the kinds of attacks you describe in the form of 'mandatory training' such that to take a moral or conscious stance against this would result in termination of employment and the impact this will invitably have on a spouse and young children? And then, even if you did this you and your family would starve unless you applied for state JSA, etc. Which would necessitate that one makes a compromise of the type you describe as potentially spiritually fatal.
David
Hello David
thanks for commenting and making a very pertinent point. I would say this is just the sort of situation envisaged by Jesus when he told his disciples when they went out into the world to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. It's no sin to go along with things externally if that is what you have to do just as long as you preserve your inner integrity. It's uncomfortable but we all have to do it up to point. There may come a time when we do have to make a stand but it's not yet. Sometimes it's the will and not the action which counts as I remember being told years ago when in a similar situation. God judges us by the heart.
"It is now evident that the only way to preserve a real spiritual integrity in the world today is to reject modern ideology in toto. If you allow its tenets to enter your mind in any form they will act like a cancer and spread throughout your whole system. Any concession will eventually bring about submission to the idea that humanism (see previous post) overrides the reality of God. "
(Thoughts stimulated by the above...)
That is it - and why the corruption spreads. And we would agree, I think, that by this you means 'in our minds', or rather hearts (since nobody - at least nobody in this world - can lead a pure physical life). The thing is to have nothing of Leftism in our hearts - we must not give it an inch. In practice - when we detect our-selves thinking along these Leftist lines (inwardly nodding along with some such argument...) then we need to catch ourselves and repent!
What we do in daily lives in - in a sense - irrelevant; since this is a world of failures - by which we hope to learn; and it is a world in which de facto slavery (to a wicked master) is increasingly frequent and onerous. A slave can be *physically* compelled, against which his only weapon is the acceptance of death; and yet a slave may be an exemplary Christian.
I think one lesson I (and all of us) need to learn is that we Are free in our hearts, we Just Are - despite what They try to make us believe (the spiritual is Not a mere product-of, not controlled-by, the material); and to exercise that freedom on the side of God.
Yes, Bruce, definitely, hearts it is since the mind will get caught up in it to a degree, it can't be helped. Your mention of a slave is a good one too in the light of David's comment. We can be forced to act in certain ways but we can't be forced to accept ideas as true that are false.
In a sense it is comforting to know that that stance would be enough (outward behavioural conformity, inward dissent) for a loving heavenly father more concerned with the quality of my heart. But I must confess, I have never felt more challenged spiritually, in my whole life,since becoming a Christian a little under a decade ago,than over these last six months, and that "attack" seems to be mounting daily. I won't go into too many personal details publicly but suffice it to say it has been a multi-pronged attack inflicting losses in several key areas of my life including work, health, and family/friendships.This on top of the external 24/7 torment of living through the Birdemic and the media PC/left wing fire storm about all the usual key areas that are forced upon us daily. There comes a point that for my own mental health I have had to try and avoid reading media/"news" as I find it too upsetting. For example, the recent BLM kneeling incidents, riots and statue desecration, the JK Rowling witch-hunts, and the general attack on western civilization/insistence that if you are white you are now officially regarded as de facto racist until proven otherwise (which of course cannot be proven, and to deny it plays into the hands of the accuser). It's all getting just a bit too much to bare. Until recently I found it at least possible to live in the world if not inwardly be of the world but I can no longer seem to Mani that any longer. I either fall into trap of despair and repent hard but still feel it strongly in the canvas of my conscious experience or else I actually start to long for heaven so badly as to almost wish that God would just end it all with a natural disaster to save me from feel like I am treading water at the end of the world, trying to hold the line, worrying that I can't keep it up much longer...and then what?! And then I repent of that train of thought and am sometimes able through prayer and reflection to temporarily access a perspective of actively learning something of spiritual value through recent experiences but then it is gone again and the feeling is of being cut off, trapped at a brute material and isolated level. Unable to really share these things with anyone 'close' to me because they just don't see these things as important and regard it as being excessively negative and not worthy of indulging in thought or discussion. The virus inconvenience will blow over, the economy will be fine, yes there are some extreme left wing people out there pushing an agenda but the vast majority of people can see through that and it too will only get so bad then blow over, why drag everyones mood down by obsessing about this stuff? Just let it go and get on with enjoying your life! But then I think of the world my v young children are facing, too young to understand yet, but how can I protect them when everyone regards these concerns as just paranoid concerns of a minute group of what would undoubtedly be labeled as religous zealots? And when you look at it that way for a moment I can see it that way too as I used to be very left wing myself, but now I get a chill to do it.
David
You're not alone, David. I must say I know exactly how you feel especially with regard to recent developments which I have found truly horrible in that they are destructive of so much that is good and decent for frankly evil ends. It's shocking how many spiritually corrupted people there are.
But in a way this is good news! It means that things are, to use Bruce Charlton's phrase borrowed from CS Lewis, coming to a point. The line between good and evil will be increasingly clearly drawn and though evil will seem to sweep all before it that has been predicted in the New Testament as happening at the End Times. So all was foreseen by God. Things are bad and they will get worse. However, this is only in the world. In reality goodness and truth and love (real love not the fake leftist variety which is love in name only) will always endure. They must because they are real and all the other stuff is just being brought to the surface so that it can be eventually fully cleaned away. It's a nasty process and uncomfortable to have to live through but we should thank God that we can see through it. He will support us always. All we have to do is stay faithful to him.
Regarding our children, we have to remember that they are God's children too. He has entrusted them to us but they are his first. We must protect them as much as we can but ultimately trust in God to look after them if they will that themselves.
I watched an interesting series on Netflix recently (World War 2 in colour) and learned a lot from the experience whilst frankly being repelled by some of the countless horrors and unfathomable human suffering of this global conflict. At the end of the Pacific campaign I recall that there were something like 10k fatalities per day! That's all of the official Birdemic UK deaths in a few days! Puts things in perspective I think. The other observations I had were the relative downplaying of the evils of communism as an ideology in contrast to Nations Socialism/Nazis (but the clues in the name for all to see?) which Bruce has insightfully blogged about fairly recently. Whilst not strictly good, according to the evaluation of the documentary, the Communists were undoubtedly a fierce and admirable force to be reckoned with, a key ally for UK/US and they were enlightened enough to have front line female soldiers alongside the men. And so of course that's a big tick for feminism right there. The fact that the Communists systematically persecuted and murdered religious people (or anyone who disagrees with them) was not mentioned.
Another bit that stuck in my mind was a discussion of the disturbingly prolific and successful Nazi propaganda scheme headed by Goebbels. Apparently one of his key insights was that the public do not care about the truth and that they could be manipulated to believe anything you like of you constantly repeat several simple messages that tell them something that they want to hear or fits with another narrative of the propandists choosing. Of course, thankfully we have learned from history and this generation are all too clever to fall for something as primative as that?! Especially since we are so wedded to science, reason and evidence?! What a relief...
David
With regard to propaganda, we are protected from this by a proper religious belief. When that has gone I think we are open to all sorts of manipulation especially as now when it concerns our personal safety and security because that is all we have with no belief in spiritual reality.
Agreed, I just wish more of my close loved ones could share that critical insight. It pains me in a hard to articulate way that mostly they do not. In my more charitable moments and prayers I extend that hope to all souls seeking truth and even the hope that those currently fully committed to going the wrong way might have a "road to Damascus" epiphany, but realistically I see little sign of that...I trust God knows how to give every soul best possible chance for salvation, built from their own unique personal circumstances...the opportunity of freely and lovingly offered after all to those who believe salvation is possible and not just wishful thinking non-sense as the modern mind can only see it as such.
Incidentally William, could I ask for your personal email again should you be happy to receive correspondence from me that way again during these strange times. David
yes David. It's william.wildblood@gmail.com
This is an excellent discussion. But, I have some quibbles that I think are important.
One of these is that I think it is an error to equate leftism with atheism. One can easily provide numerous examples of both left-wing religious people and right wing wing atheists. If one responds with "Yes, but they are not really (religious/atheist)",this would be a text book example of the no true Scotsman fallacy.
Leftism basically arose when people gave more importance to this world than the next. It certainly took off with the French Revolution which was wholly atheist. Even left wing religious people tend to see God in terms of Man rather than vice versa as should be the case. I don't say the right is spiritual always. It obviously isn't but it is if it is true to itself.
Then again left and right are misleading terms when we really look at the world as spiritual. They are both steps down into worldliness. It's just that the left is a much bigger and more comprehensive step down. I don't see myself as on the right though anyone on the left would certainly see me like that and I certainly share more with the right than with the left. The only thing that concerns me is the reality of God which I realise sounds rather pompous but then that should be the only thing that really concerns anyone.
Hi William,
I agree that worldliness is the central issue of our times. That said, I suppose one can define right and left in various ways. But, I do not think that defining the right and left in terms of theism and atheism is a position that many would recognize. To my lights, the core issue between the left and right is that of equality and what that implies for the social order. Some right wing atheists are totally ok with less equality and some theists believe that the lack of equality in society is in violation of God's just will.
@Chris - " I do not think that defining the right and left in terms of theism and atheism is a position that many would recognize. "
(If I might interject?) Yes, but any definition that "most people" would recognise is wrong, because the 'Right' is just the 'Left' of a few years ago. And because most people are now so deeply and habitually atheist, that they cannot comprehend genuine theism.
I agree with William that the only genuine alternative to the Left (which now includes all of mainstream politcs in the West) is 'theism' - putting God first and at the centre of life (organising the rest of life around God). Anything else will soon become Left, if it is not already Left.
In pure terms I would see the left as politics, all politics, and the right as religion. Obviously that's not how most people see the matter but going back to Eric's point about them being grounded in something metaphysical, the right is grounded in God and the left in not God, this world basically.. When Dr Johnson said that "The first Whig was the devil" he was saying something similar. (The Whigs were the opponents of the Conservatives in 18th century Britain).
Bruce, no problem- I appreciate your opinion.
My apologies for belaboring this , but I think it's important.....
I agree that the meaning of the Right is basically whatever position the Left used to be. But, I think that my original point still holds, that the very existence of the religious Left and the secular Right stand as defeaters for the notion that the left and right are fundamentally about atheism/theism. They are components, no doubt, but I'm not convinced that they are foundational. For example, I think it would be difficult to say that Ayn Rand was really a Leftist despite protestations to the contrary.
Agreed that they can shapeshift but perhaps you could say that the left wants to reduce everything to one while the right wants to preserve hierarchical distinction so in this sense they relate to quantity and quality.
@Chris
From our modern POV, there exists of course a leftist spirituality that is opposed to the Darwinian materialism of the right. But I would argue that is still a false dichotomy. From a purely metaphysical perspective, I'd say the left and right represent the material and spiritual poles of existence. But of course, since they are complementary, there can exist rightist materialism and leftist spirituality. B ut modern Leftist spirituality seems to be grounded in materialistic thought (having a cynical view of nature), whereas a proper materialism of the Right would seek to conform nature with the divine order.
And I should add, doing so without getting rid of the Creator but keeping the law (as is the case with secular rightism).
William,
I endorse you to gain the knowledge of the passing away & arising of beings.
If you gain this knowledge, your quarrels with the ones you call materialists will cease.
You once said that "the masters said that the greater portion of you remains with us"
It seems that you have assumed that this "greater portion of you" will survive your death.
While, your visible body - a lesser part of you - will not survive death.
And so, I suggest you know and see for yourself - "this greater part of me" - is it subject to passing away? Will it survive my death?
Excellent comments Eric which seem to me to put the case in a nutshell.
BSRK, I'm not sure what you're saying. The greater part refers to the idea that the human soul is a much larger thing than is apparent when it is in this world. It certainly survives death because it always exists on its own plane. It is the true spiritual self behind the separate earthly ego.
@William
Thanks. And as Bruce Charlton says, the right of today was the left of yesterday. From a historical POV, the great modernist project of objective materialism was seen as leftism by the old conservatives (who are commonly viewed as ignorant and superstitious by the intellectual leftist progressives). But now, this same scientific materialism is seen as oppressive by the postmodernists. They have become the superstitious ones, whereas the right is left with the Darwinian heritage. So it is quite obvious there is a metaphysical movement going on behind the political sideshow.
Properly viewed, the left-right distinction in politics is not arbitrary but rest upon metaphysical principles. The right standing for spirit - that which is eternal, unchanging, intangible (hence conservative). The left standing for matter - that which is temporal, changing, tangible (hence consumptive). The right is therefore fundamentally apolitical.
Is metaphysical naturalism an essential component of the modern project? Many contemporary "conservatives" argue that classical liberalism which ushered in the modern age is not fundamentally materialist at all. In fact,they would say the exact opposite- that the core principles of classical liberalism represent the fulfillment of Christian theism. For example , all men are created equal and are endowed with rights by their Creator.
I think liberal modernity is predicated on the rise of naturalism. This means faith got relegated into the mind as God became cut off from the world. I believe classical liberalism comes from empiricist reformation thinkers, so all that equality talk rests upon a theological formalism, with and underlying loyalty to metaphysical naturalism as well as individualism (man is the measure of all things). If you ask me, it's all materialism.
If modernity is, in fact, "all materialism", I think we would have to conclude that the modern project is rotten- root , branch and leaf. But, then what? Would it make sense to return to the Traditional arrangements of the pre-modern past... caste, throne and altar? Surely not. Could there be some kind of hybrid arrangement featuring pre-modern metaphysics but keeping the blessings of modernity? That seems to be the position that many on the spiritual but not religious crowd have in mind. But I think that seems neither possible nor, perhaps, even desirable.
No, the modern project is not all rotten, Chris. It was an adventure in consciousness and has had many positive, evolutionary benefits. It was good in essence but has gone bad. A return to the past is not what is required but we do need to submit modern mentality with its focus on the individual and the mind, both good up to a point, to spiritual understanding
See here for a post on the subject.
https://meetingthemasters.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-modern-experiment.html
The thing is we were meant to become more actively spiritual but instead have gone from passive spirituality to materialism. However, I do believe many individuals have proceeded as intended, just not the majority.
Perhaps "all rotten" is not exactly what I meant. If Eric is correct in saying that the modern experiment is, in its essence, "all materialist", then it derives from error at the outset. Consequently, all that follows from it must logically increase in error.
"A little error in the beginning leads to a great one in the end." - Thomas Aquinas
It seems to me that humanism is the wellspring of the "adventure in consciousness" that you alluded to. But it becomes destructive to the extent that it is not spiritual humanism. However, I'm not convinced that it need be theistic humanism. For example, there are many on the "spiritual left" who agree that philosophical materialism and the worldliness that it engenders is seriously problematic. I suspect that the theist's response would be that "spiritual humanism", which is not theistic, is just as empty as secular humanism because both of those metaphysical systems are monistic and end up erasing personhood.
"Perhaps "all rotten" is not exactly what I meant. If Eric is correct in saying that the modern experiment is, in its essence, "all materialist", then it derives from error at the outset. Consequently, all that follows from it must logically increase in error."
Depends what you mean by error. Materialism works and is good for Satan, but it's a dead end. Most people want it, and we can't force Christianity on them. But we can inspire them. We can work with spirit and try to free it up from the material blockage as much as possible (first and foremost through ourselves).
"However, I'm not convinced that it need be theistic humanism. For example, there are many on the "spiritual left" who agree that philosophical materialism and the worldliness that it engenders is seriously problematic."
I would say they are opposed to materialism as a lifestyle (seeking experiences rather than things), but they are still philosophical materialists. That is, they make a spiritual trip into matter but not out of it. This is why they end up in postmodernism. They tear up all material boundaries but don't want God so they end up in no man's land. Ironically, this ends up strengthening materialism and its objectifying grip over nature and subsequent annihilation of objective meaning in the world. Nature remains an "it", and spirit some sort of abstract, impersonal "energy".
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